Machine for the transferring and treating of articles



MACHINE FOR THE TRANSFERRING AND TREATING OF ARTICLES Filed Oct. 8, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR ATTORNEY Jan. 24, 1939. J. ETTL 2,144,717

MACHINE FOR THE TRANSFERRING AND TREATING OF ARTICLES Filed Oct. 8, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 y 'lllllllllgllllllklltlliI ;IAIIII)I IIIIIIIIIA l I; INVVENTOR IMMW- A ATTORNE Patented Jan. 24, 1939 PATENT OFFICE MACHINE FOR THE TBANSFERRING AND TREATING OF ARTICLES Joseph Ettl,

devin Machine Plainfield, N. 1., assignor to Pot- Company, Brooklyn, N. Y., a

corporation of New York Application October 8,

Claims.

In the operation of machines for transferring articles from a supply station to and through a treating station, as for example a printing device for impressing designs on paper or the like,

it is desirable for the articles to spend as much; time as possible in the treating station: such as S of the oven be kept as small as possible; An. cordingly the oven is preferably equipped with a a drying oven. It is also desirable that the low speed belt.

At the same time, it is desirable to locate the treating station at some distance from the supply station, and inasmuch as the usual means of introducing the articles to the treating station is also of the conveyer belt type, and as it is advantageous to have the articles reach the treating station as soon as possible this belt should travel at a higher speed than the belt in the treating station. However, transference of the articles from the high speed conveyer belt to a lower speed belt at the treating station engenders special problems, such as buckling, overlapping, etc.

It is the purpose of my invention to overcome these problems, as will hereinafter appear.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a more or less diagrammatic layout of an embodiment of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the drive for the drying belt; and

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings in detail, I designates a supply station, such as a printing press for example, and 2 a treating station, which might be a drying oven, the intention being to print articles such as lengths of paper, for instance, at l and then convey these articles to and through the drying oven 2 3 designates a conveyer belt mounted on pulleys 4 and 5 and driven by belt 6, pulley l and belt 8 from a motor 9.

The conveyer belt 3 conveys the articles from the supply station and delivers them to drying oven belt 3' which conveys the articles through the oven for drying. The belt 3 as will be seen from Fig. 2 is divided into a plurality of sections III; in other words, is made up of a plurality of sections lying side by side, the adjacent edges being slightly spaced from each other as shown in the drawings.

The conveyer belt 3 is similarly constructed.

The oven belt 3' is carried on pulleys II and I2 mounted on shafts l3 and I4, respectively. Loosely mounted on the shaft I4 is a pair of pulleys l5 and IS. The pulley l5, which I shall term 1935, Serial No. 44.009

a fast speed pulley, is driven off the shaft I! which carries the pulley I for the conveyer belt, through a large pulley l8, while the slow speed pulley 16 is driven off the same shaft by smaller pulley l9. Mounted on the shaft l4 intermediate the pulleys l5 and I6 is a friction disc 20, keyed to'the shaft.v

.The shaft 14 at the end which carries the pul- I leys l5 and I6 and friction disc 20 is bored longitudinally as shown at 2|, to receive a spring 22 and a piston rod 23 of a piston 24 to be referred to hereinafter.

The friction disc 20 is provided with a cross bar 25 secured to the face thereof and extending across the center of the disc. This bar provides an abutment for the spring 22, and the shaft [4 is slotted to accommodate it as shown at 26.

The inner end of the piston rod 23 also coopcrates with this cross bar, a bearing 21 being provided between the bar and piston rod so that the friction disc can rotate without rotating the piston rod.

The piston 24 is adapted to be moved outwardly of its cylinder 28 by compressed air supplied by a compressor 29 and inwardly of its cylinder by the spring 22.

At 30 I provide valve mechanism which permits compressed air to flow from the compressor, past the valve mechanism 30, and by way of pipe 3| to the cylinder 28 when the piston 24 is to be moved outwardly of the cylinder, this valve mechanism at another stage cutting off the supply of air from the compressor and permitting the air to be discharged from cylinder 28 by way of pipe 32 so as to permit the piston to move inwardly of its cylinder under the action of the spring 22.

The valve 30 is controlled in a well known manner by photoelectric cell 41 which is caused to function by lamp 42.

In operation when articles are being conveyed to the drying oven by the belt 3 the oven belt 3' is running at slow speed, that is to say, air is not being admitted to cylinder 28 and the piston 24 is in its innermost position, being held in this position by spring 22. Under these condi-' tions the disc 20 is in engagement with the slow speed pulley l6 so that the oven belt is traveling at slow speed. When an article on the conveyer belt 3 has been advanced thereby suillciently to intercept the light from lamp 42 then the valve 30 will be operated to admit air to the cylinder 28, forcing the friction disc 20 against the action of the spring 22 into engagement with the fast speed pulley ll, increasing the speed of the oven belt to a speed not less than and preferably slightly higher than that of the conveyer belt. When the article on the conveyer belt has been xurther advanced suflieiently so as no longer to intercept the light from light source 42 then the air will automatically shut oil, piston 24 will resume its slow speed position under the action of the spring 22, with the result that the article will travel through the oven at reduced speed, which as above pointed out, is an object of this invention.

It will be understood that the changeover from fast speed to slow speed occurs as soon as the rear edge of the article on the belt I has advanced sufficiently far to permit light from the light source 42 to reach the photo-electric cell it. By this arrangement it is possible to get the desired number of articles upon the oven belt. It will be appreciated also that the period of high speed of the oven belt is thus controlled by the length of the article being conveyed and trans ferred, and that the time required to change from high speed to low speed and vice versa is limited only by the time required for the photo-electric cell to operate.

What I claim is:-

l. Transfer apparatus comprising in combination a treating station. a supply station, a belt conveyer for conveying articles from the supply station to the treating station, a belt conveyer for receiving such articles and-conveying them through the treating station, a high speed pulley and a low speed pulley for driving the last named conveyer, a clutch for clutching said pulleys to the conveyer shaft, a compressed air supply, a photo-electric cell controlled by articles being conveyed to the treating station for supplying compressed air to the clutch to clutch the fast speed pulley to the conveyer shaft whereby the conveyer for the treating station will be running at a speed substantially the speed of the first mentioned conveyer when receiving articles therefrom, and a spring thereafter to shift said clutch automatically to clutch the low speed pulley to the conveyer shaft to drive the conveyer at the treating station at a relatively low Speed.

2. Transfer apparatus comprising in combination, a treating station, a supply station, a drive shaft, a belt driven from said drive shaft for conveying articles from the supply station to the treating station, a conveyer at the treating station for receiving such articles and conveying them through the treating station, a fast speed pulley and a slow speed pulley driven from said drive shaft for driving said last mentioned conveyer, a clutch for clutching said pulleys selectively to the shaft of the last mentioned conveyer. air controlled means for actuating said clutch for selecting said pulleys whereby the conveyer will run at a speed at least as high as that of the first mentioned conveyer when articles are received therefrom and thereafter at a slower speed for passage through the treating means, and a photoelectric cell in the path of the articles carried by said first mentioned conveyer for automatically opening a, valve to said air controlled means to actuate said clutch.

controlling said clutch and located in juxtaposition to said spaced belts to project light between said spaces, said photoelectric apparatus being controlled by articles carried on said spaced belts as the same pass thereby to the treating station, the fast speed pulley when clutched to the conveyer shaft driving the conveyer for the treating station at a speed at least as high as that of the speed of the conveyer by which'articles are conveyed to the treating station, the slow speed pulley driving the conveyer for the treating station at a lower speed.

4. Transfer apparatus comprising in combination a treating station, a supply station, a belt conveyer for conveying articles from the supply station to the treating station, a belt conveyer for receiving such articles and conveying them through the treating station, a high speed pulley and a low speed pulley for driving the last named conveyer, a clutch for clutching said pulleys to the conveyer shaft, a piston cooperating with said clutch, a compressed air supply for said piston, a photoelectric cell controlled by articles being conveyer to the treating station for supplying compressed air to said piston to actuate said clutch to clutch the fast speed pulley to the conveyer shaft whereby the conveyer for the treating station will be running at a speed at least as high as the speed of the first mentioned conveyer when receiving articles therefrom, and a spring thereafter to shift said clutch automatically to clutch the low speed pulley to the conveyer shaft to drive the conveyer at the treating station at a relatively low speed.

5. Transfer apparatus comprising in combination a treating station, a supply station, a belt conveyer for conveying articles from the supply station to the treating station, a belt conveyer for receiving such articles and conveying them through the treating station, a high speed pulley and a low speed pulley for driving the last named conveyer, a clutch for clutching said pulleys to the conveyer shaft, a piston cooperating with said clutch, a compressed air supply, a valve between the said supply and said piston, a photoelectric cell controlled by articles being conveyed to the treating station for operating said valve to admit compressed air to said piston to actuate said clutch to clutch the fast speed pulley to the conveyer shaft whereby the conveyer for the treating station will be running at a speed at least as high as the speed of the first mentioned conveyer when receiving articles therefrom, and a spring thereafter to shift said clutch automatically to clutch the low speed pulley to the conveyer shaft to drive the conveyer at the treating station at a relatively low speed.

JOSEPH E'I'IL.

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